An eastbound Rio Grande freight climbs the steep 3-percent grade of Tennessee Pass at Mitchell on a July 1984 morning. A total of 18,600 horsepower of EMD locomotives is clawing at the rails with this manned mid-train helper set; behind GP40 No. 3083 is a GP40-2, a SD40T-2, a SD45, and two more SD40T-2s. Combined with the 20,850 h.p. on the head end, this freight required almost 40,000 h.p. to climb the pass!
An exclamation attributed to TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, it is this eponymous expression of which certain images convey man and machine versus nature . . .
